Positive selection in cathelicidin host defense peptides: adaptation to exogenous pathogens or endogenous receptors?

ABSTRACT: The cause of adaptive protein evolution includes internal (for example, co-evolution of ligand-receptor pairs) and external (for example, adaptation to different ecological niches) mechanisms. Host defense peptides (HDPs) are a class of vertebrate-specific cationic antimicrobial peptides evolving under positive selection. Besides their antibiotic activity, HDPs also exert an effect on multiple host immune cells, thus providing an ideal model to study selective agents driving their evolution. On the basis of a combination of computational and experimental approaches, we studied the evolution of LL-37-type HDPs in mammals, the mature peptide of cathelicidin CAP18 (herein termed CAP18-MP) and investigated the driving force behind the evolution. Using codon-substitution maximum likelihood mode

SUBMITTER: Zhu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5564380 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature